


a rookie mistake

by nightswatch



Series: Aces Rookies in Love [1]
Category: Check Please! (Webcomic)
Genre: Aces Rookies, M/M, Misunderstandings, POV Outsider, Secret Relationship
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-04-28
Updated: 2017-04-28
Packaged: 2018-10-25 01:55:51
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,024
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/10754325
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/nightswatch/pseuds/nightswatch
Summary: Everyone on the Las Vegas Aces knows that Kent and Swoops are married. Everyone except for the rookies. It takes them a while to figure it out.





	a rookie mistake

**Author's Note:**

> I wrote this a while ago as a prompt fill for @shieldedstar on tumblr. Since this is where my Aces rookies came from, I felt like I should add it to the series.

Kelly has played a total of thirty-two games with the Las Vegas Aces. In his first NHL game, he got an assist on Kent Parson’s first goal of the season. In his third game, Kent Parson assisted him on his first NHL goal.

He stopped being intimidated approximately five minutes after he met Kent Parson for the first time. Kent showed Kelly pictures of his cat. A lot of them. “Look, Keller,” Parson said, “we’ll find you and Stevens a nice place to live, yeah? And Swoops and I are gonna give you the tour tomorrow. And you’re coming over for dinner. That all right?” Kelly had Kent Parson’s number saved in his phone about a minute later. “Call if you need anything. I’m serious. I won’t be mad. I don’t even care if you save my contact as Dad.”

And even though Parse invited him and Stevens, the other rookie, over to his house for dinner the day they came to Vegas, even though the first thing Kent did was to introduce them to his cat, even though Kent Parson tweets constantly and posts more photos on Instagram than anyone else on the team, Kelly still hasn’t met Kent’s husband.

He’s met all the other guys’ wives and girlfriends and, okay, Kent keeps his love life private, won’t answer questions, shoots down every interviewer who tries to tickle something out of him, and that’s his business. With how secretive he is, Kelly is actually surprised that it’s public knowledge that Kent is married at all. Or that he came out in the first place. Kent wasn’t the first one in the league, but it was still a pretty big deal.

It was a pretty big deal for Kelly personally. Because when he got drafted, he already knew that he wouldn’t be alone.

In retrospect, Kelly probably should have figured out who Kent is married to a while ago.

He could have figured it out during his first week with the Aces, when he stood next to Jeff Troy during practice and asked, “Hey, Swoops, have you met Parser’s husband?”

And Jeff laughed like Kelly just told him the funniest joke of all time and said, “I sure have.”

He could have figured it out when they were on a roadie and Jeff took a picture of Kent on the plane, fast asleep, mouth hanging open, curled up in his seat like a kitten. He could have figured it out when Jeff set that picture as his phone background, but he thought Jeff was just doing it to chirp Kent.

He could have figured it out one of those times he saw Kent and Jeff arrive at the rink together. Or when he saw them leave together. Or when he saw Jeff carrying Kent’s equipment bag. Or when he saw them whispering to each other after practice, Kent honest to God _giggling_ , Jeff’s face flushed. Or when he saw Kent wearing a sweater that Kelly was sure he’d seen Jeff wear only a few days earlier.

He could have figured it out when he asked Sunny, “Does Kent ever bring his husband?”

Sunny only shook his head at him, like Kelly had gravely disappointed him.

Kelly didn’t mean to pry, he just wanted to know if this was how it worked, if Kent always showed up alone, or if there was a chance that Kelly could bring ‘round his boyfriend if he ever had one, if the team would be okay with that. Sunny hadn’t been disappointed, though, but it’d still take Kelly a while to realize.

“I don’t get it,” Kelly says to Stevens one afternoon. They’re well into the season at this point. They’re both still on the roster, so they must be doing something right. “I’m pretty sure that everyone on the team knows the guy Parse is married to. I mean, does he think we’d mind?” Honestly, Kelly is playing with the thought of telling Kent that he definitely, one hundred percent doesn’t mind.

“Maybe,” Stevens says. He’s a man of few words. It took Kelly a while to get used to that.

Kelly shoots Stevens a careful glance. “You don’t, right?”

“Huh?”

“You don’t care that he’s married to a dude, do you?”

“No,” Stevens says. He pats Kelly on the back. “‘Course not.”

Stevens is clearly not that invested in the matter, but Kelly keeps looking for clues. Kent’s phone background is his cat. The pictures he tweets on Instagram are also of his cat. And himself. And the team. Kelly almost wants to ask Jeff again, because it’s obvious that he’s Kent’s best friend, seriously, those guys are on a level of drift compatible that’s almost scary, but Kelly doesn’t want anyone to think that he’s nosy.

Okay, maybe he is a little nosy. And he knows that the rest of the team knows and he just wants to be worthy, in a way.

When he finds out, it feels like someone hit him over the head with their hockey stick. Kelly was _blind_.

It happens like this: They’re in Houston and Jeff gets checked into the boards during the third period. He heads to the locker room and doesn’t come back out. When the game’s over and they head down the tunnel, Jeff is already out of his pads. He quietly says, “I’m fine,” when Kent walks straight over to him.

“They didn’t let you come back out, so I’m guessing you’re not _fine_.”

“You didn’t kill anyone out there, did you?”

“No, but Ivan did,” Kent says nonchalantly. He reaches out and smooths Jeff’s hair back.

Kelly freezes, fingers tangled in the laces of his skates. He saw that. Kent did that. He didn’t imagine it, did he?

“Um,” Stevens says next to Kelly. “Did you–”

“Yeah,” Kelly whispers.

When Kent leans down to kiss Jeff’s forehead, Stevens punches Kelly in the arm. What. on. earth.

Kelly is, for the first time in the nineteen years of his life, totally speechless.

It’s Stevens who eventually blurts out, “You’re married to _Swoops_?”

Kent rolls his eyes at them. “No,” he says, “Swoops is married to _me_.”

**Author's Note:**

> Kudos and comments are very much appreciated :)


End file.
